diff --git a/spacy/pipeline/spancat.py b/spacy/pipeline/spancat.py
index 3a32b4e7a..0a1caef90 100644
--- a/spacy/pipeline/spancat.py
+++ b/spacy/pipeline/spancat.py
@@ -490,7 +490,6 @@ class SpanCategorizer(TrainablePipe):
         offset = 0
         for i, doc in enumerate(docs):
             indices_i = indices[i].dataXd
-            allow_overlap = self.cfg["allow_overlap"]
             allow_overlap = cast(bool, self.cfg["allow_overlap"])
             if self.cfg["max_positive"] == 1:
                 doc.spans[self.key] = self._make_span_group_singlelabel(
diff --git a/spacy/tests/pipeline/test_spancat.py b/spacy/tests/pipeline/test_spancat.py
index 2694c01f4..cf6304042 100644
--- a/spacy/tests/pipeline/test_spancat.py
+++ b/spacy/tests/pipeline/test_spancat.py
@@ -493,7 +493,7 @@ def test_overfitting_IO_overlapping():
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("name", SPANCAT_COMPONENTS)
 def test_zero_suggestions(name):
-    # Test with a suggester that returns 0 suggestions
+    # Test with a suggester that can return 0 suggestions
     @registry.misc("test_mixed_zero_suggester")
     def make_mixed_zero_suggester():
         def mixed_zero_suggester(docs, *, ops=None):